Improvement in harvester-rakes



H. H. BRIDENTHAL, Jr.

HARVESTER-BAKE.

No.'170,433 vPanzen'cecl Nov.30,1875.

'UNITED STATES PATENT EEIoE.

HARRY H. BRIDENTHAL, JR., OF LATROBE, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN HARVESTER-RAKES.

Specification forming partV of lLetters Patent No. 170,433, dated November 30, 1875; application filed August 4, 1875.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HARRY H. BRIDEN- THAL, Jr., of Latrobe, in the county of Westmoreland and State of Pennsylvania, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Harvester-Rakes 5 and I do hereby declare the following to be a clear and' exact description thereof, that will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, referencebeing had to accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

My invention relates to that class of harvester-rakes which reel the grain onto the platform, whereby any one or all of the fans may be made to deliver a gavel to the stubble at the will of the operator, and out of the way of the team'on its next round.

Figure l of the drawing is a perspective view of my improved machine, and Fig. 2 is a plan view of a detached part thereof, showing the joints or hinges of the rake-arms. Figs. 3 land 4 are vertical elevations of opposite sides ofthe cam-grooved plate, which governs the action of the rakes or fans, showing its arrangement of gates, switches, and operatinglever. Fig. 5 is a plan view ofthe rake-operating'rock-shaft. Fig. 6 is a profile, showing the path of the fans relative to the cutter-bar b.

Similar letters of reference where they occur in different figures refer to like parts of the machine in all of the drawings.

The object of this invention is to improve the construction of harvester-rakes, lnaking them more effective in their operations, and adapting them to be used on front or rear cut harvesters. It consists in the combination of a series of rakes pivoted at two points to the ends of a series of radial arms or their equivalent, and in the combination and arrangement of various elements, hereinafter described and specically claimed.

In the drawing, a, Fig. 1, represents the grain-platform, and it is provided with vertical sides, which rise from the outerv and inner edges thereof, and the said inner and outer edges are curved so as t0 correspond respectv ively to the paths of the inner and outer ends of the rake-heads as they sweep the gavel to the stubble. The post 4 is, by any sultable means, strongly connected to the inner shoe of the harvester, or to the inner forward corner of the platform c. To the top of the said post 4 is securely, but adjustably, attached the cam-grooved plate 6, by means of screws or bolts, one of which passes through the slot o. The shaft K revolves within suitable bearings in the plate 6, and its inner end is provided with a driving-pulley, or any device whereby motion may be transmitted to it from the gearing of the harvester. 'Iol the outer end of the said shaft K is secured a suitable hub, to which is connected the series of arms d, which may be of such length as to reach nearly to the finger-bar b, and their outer ends are provided with bearings, in which are secured the rock-shafts s2. rock-shafts s2 are connected by means of the rods t to the friction-rollers h. The said rollers h are carried around within the groove of the plate 6, with the arms d, by the rods't. Hence the motion of the rock-shafts s2 is made to correspond with the groove in the guide-plate 6, as the before-mentioned arms revolve with the shaft K.

To the outer ends q of the rock-shafts s2 are pivoted the rake-arms p by means of long bearings. The said bearings are placed at right angles with the rake-arms,` and at an obtuse angle relative to the rock-shafts s2, as shown in Fig. 5. A short distance from the bearings g, on the rake-arms r, are secured the eyes o, which are, by means of the links l, connected to similar eyes att-ached to the arms d a short distance from the rock-shaft bearings, vand nearly in line with the said bearings and the rake-heads, when the rakes are folded back, as shown in Fig. 2.

By this construction the motion of the rakearms about the bearing q is governed by the links l, and their motion is otherwise governed by means of the cranks s and the rollers l?, within the stationary cam-plate 6.

To the outer ends of the rake-arms r are secured the rake-heads L, which are further supported by the secondary arms k.

rlhe number of rakes or fans may be varied to suit the surrounding circumstances. I find by experience that four arms and rakes give the best results generally.

The arms d are supported by the braces g, which, when three arms are used, are provided The cranks s of the with bearings for the reception of the rods i. When four arms are used, the said rods are pivoted` to the next arm forward, so as to .bring the rods te' at, or nearly at, right anwhich is just the `height of the length of the` i as a bridge to conduct the rollers h from the outer groove r2 to the inner groove 112. The gate or switch u1 is attached' to the end of a l short shaft, suitably provided with a bearing within the plate 6, and to the opposite end of the saidshaft is secured the lever u. The switch is held in the position shown in Fig. 4 by means of the spring t', Fig. 3.

1 The part hzof the groove 'i2 is somewhat camshaped, or `provided with a slight projection,

which causes the rakes to drop gradually as` they near the finger-bar, and when they are about to pass the said finger-bar the rollers h strike the projection s4, causing the said rakes to rise vertically, following a path shown by the dotted lines w a2, Fig. 6, thus enabling the machine to gather broken and down grain. ,The operation of my machine is substantially as follows: The grain is reeled onto the platform, as before described, the frictionrollers following the inner path or groove i2. A gavel having been thus gathered, the operatr depresses'the end of the lever u, raising the switch u2, and allowing a roller to pass from the inner to the outer groove, which allows the corresponding rake-head to drop to the platform, the shelf h1 and the inner side guiding the said rake, as before described,

and the crank s prevents it from rising. The.

gavel is thus swept from the-platform. The links l being attached to the arms d above By the ends of the heads sliding the centers of rotation of the rake-arms about the bearings of the rock-shafts s2, the said rake-arms are caused to swing around hori-` zontally as they move rearward along the platform, both ends describing the arc of a circle, thereby carrying the grain or gavel away from the standing lgrain. rllhe rollers k pass around the cam-groove r2, depressing the gate u2, pass intothe inner groove i2, thereby bringing the rake to its first position, Where` it serves as a reel until another gavel is col-.` I lectedA upon the platform, when the operation isrepeated byany of the rakes or fans, in the manner described.

When the rakes are folded the bearings of the rock-shaftssz, and the eyes o and p being nearly in line, the rake-arms are therefore but little influenced laterally bythe links Z. Hence, in reeling in the grain the rakes falland rise nearly parallel with the plane of the arms d, while they are otherwise held rigidly in `posi-` tion.

To the end of the roller-bearing p1 is rigidly connected a wedge-shaped block, 7, and it has for its purpose to prevent the end of the switch from striking the roller fairly, as may happen in depressingthe levernwhile the machine is in motion, and thereby causing breakage.

The object in having the bearings q at Iobtuse angles relative to the bearings of the rock-shafts s2 is to allow the` rake-heads to swing horizontally around relative to the grain-` platform a as they sweep the gavel therefrom. The guide-plate 6, being provided with the slot o, thereby enables the said plate to be adjusted circumferentially, so as to bring the rakes to their proper position relative to the rear end of the platform, and permitting the` rakes to be thrown forward, or adjusted to different heights on the post 4. i

. Having thus described my invention, `what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

'lhe combination of the cam-groove plate` ing arms r K, and rakes L, substantially as 

